Closing the Hardware Design Loop with Electronics Workbench Multisim and National Instruments LabVIEW By Shauna L. Rae, E lectronics Workbench, and Gretchen Edelmon, National Instruments LabVIEW Multisim Schematic Capture Simulation Data Acquisition Automation Sensors Buses Existing Designs Actuators Emulator Boards Ultiboard PCB Layout Routing Manufacturing Files Completed PCB Designers are always looking for ways to improve their circuit simulations. The combination of Electronics Workbench Multisim and NationalInstruments LabVIEW allows engineers to close the hardware design loop. It provides designers with inputand feedback never before available, allowing them to efficiently test andverify both their circuits andsimulations. Historically hardware design engineers have simulated circuits with models that are based on the electrical or physical characteristics of the components. These simulations have been very powerful and helpful in the design and verification process, but they are not without limitations. As designers continue to look for ways to reduce time to market for new designs, the crossover point between the design and the characterization and validation process of actual hardware has been neglected. By bridging between the design and measurement area, users can iterate more tightly through the design process by identifying and addressing discrepancies and addressing them in t he pr ototypes. The way t o accomplish this is to be able to reuse and compare the signal data, simulated ormeasured, easily in either domain. It has been difficult and time consuming to accurately model real world signals such as th ose from s ensors or bus es. It would be beneficial to capture these signals and use them to drive simulations. Simulation waveforms could in turn be used to drive existing interfaces to verify that the design is working according to specifications. It would also be useful to be able to compare simulation waveforms to real world waveforms in a direct format. This would help to tighten simulations and aid the debugging process. This paper will provide a briefintroduction to Electronics Workbench and their printed circuit board (PCB) design and simulation tools and to National Instruments with theirmeasurement products, including modular instruments and Data Acquisition (DAQ) boards, programmed using their LabVIEW product. It will showcase how they work together and highlight some general applications. Printed Circuit Board Design Electronics Workbench develops Electronics Design Automation (EDA) tools for all major steps in the circuit design flow: schematic capture, simulation, PCB layout, autorouting, and CAM preparation. Designers use schematic capture software to encapsulate their designs. Once a design is captured, they can use the schematic diagrams to drive simulations and/or feed the PCB layout and routing process. Simulation programs are used to test and verify designs. Simulation helps designers to: reduce time to market, find errors in their designs before they become costly mistakes, evaluate problems potentially caused by variations in real world component properties, and optimize their designs. Once a design is verified at the schematic level, it must be placed and routed for PCB production. Multisim provides intuitive schematic capture, SPICE, Verilog, VHDL, and RF simulation, co-simulation, and analysis. With Ultiboard and Ultiroute, users perform automatic or manual placement and routing of components and traces at the PCB level. Ultiboard also outputs manufacturing files. Simulation with Multisim is powerful yet easy-to-use. Virtual instruments connect to wires in the schematic diagram just like real world lab instruments connect to wires in a circuit. Virtual instruments in Multisim have front panels and controls just like theirreal world counterparts. If advanced users want more control, they still have access to traditional SPICE simulation and analysis methods. Circuit simulators are powerful tools that use models to represent the behaviour ofcomponents. Alone, they do not have the capability to capture or drive real world si gnals. Designers need to make use of data acquisition and control devices and associated application software in order to do this. Until recently there was no easy way to do this. Virtual Instrumentation with LabVIEW LabVIEW is the leading software environment for data acquisition and instrument control. With LabVIEW,
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